This build was done entirely OOB.
It is the first time I've built a Super Hornet. Usually I build CF-18s, so
after years of thinking I should build an E or F model, I couldn't resist when I
saw the colourful markings that came with this one. I noticed some
differences between this and the A/B/C/D Hasegawa Hornet models, such as the
lack of photo-etched parts in this kit for HUD posts and other detail
bits. Frankly, though, I found that this didn't make a big difference to
me. The cockpit panels were strange - done up as decals with some raised
detail as well! I tried the decals in one cockpit, and painting in the
other - turned out I preferred the result when painted. The decals
wouldn't sit in place, and required lots of setting solution to stay down.
They also looked quite hokey.
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I used the kit red decals,
rather than trying to match paint colours for the bright spine and tails.
They generally went on very well, especially given their large size and
the complex curves they had to cover. At the front and bottom of the
vertical tails there were some small decal size problems. The bottom
portion required very minor trimming, while the fronts needed trimming as
well, plus a bit of Future to coax them not to separate away at the
leading edge. I was a bit surprised to see that the navigation
lights (tops of LEXes, plus sides
of aileron actuator housings) were represented with decals in this
kit. The lights atop the LEXes don't look too bad, but I had already
painted the underwing nav lights before discovering the decals existed.
The foot-walk no-skid panels were all decals as well. They were a
bit thick and tough to get to sit down properly on the top rear; if I had
been less lazy I probably would have painted them instead.
I made a minor attempt to do some
panel line pre-shading, but kept it very light because this CAG bird looked very
clean on the box, and in an aviation magazine article I stumbled across.
One part I would do differently is the colour of the top of the aircraft.
I tried adding a bit of black to the FS 36375 bottom colour, but didn't use
enough. Turns out it is almost impossible to see the difference between
top and bottom colours, but I didn't take the time to totally redo the paint job
to correct this. Many American Hornets I've seen tend to show fading
between top and bottom colours, so that's what I went for - honest! And
don't confuse me with the fact that the fading would also come with
mottled-looking panels vice the clean look of this model... :-)
Dan McWilliams
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